205 Squadron RAF) mainly on maritime patrol and anti-submarine duties, rescuing more than fifty survivors of ditched aircraft[2] and successfully attacking a Japanese submarine in the process with the elderly Singapores.

The P-3B fleet was upgraded in the mid 1980s (Project Rigel) with a more modern radar (APS-134), an IRDS camera, a digital computing bus, and electronic displays/information management system.

[7] The contract also included an upgrade of crew training, software testing and integration facilities, and mission preparation and analysis systems.

This would improve capabilities to better police illegal fishing, and the trial occurred at a time when New Zealand was under pressure to intervene in the increasingly heated dispute between Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and Japanese commercial whaling ships.

In 2006, an Orion was used to photograph Raoul Island after a small volcanic eruption killed a Department of Conservation (DOC) worker.

Following the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 in March 2014, an RNZAF P-3K2 Orion was deployed to RAAF Base Butterworth to assist with the search for the Boeing 777.

[10] P-3K2 Orion aircraft conducted multiple surveys in 2017 of the Ambae volcano, located in the Vanuatu archipelago, following increasing levels of volcanic activity.

[14] A P-3K2 Orion and crew were deployed to Japan in Sep-Oct 2018 and again in Oct-Nov 2019 to help implement United Nations Security Council resolutions against North Korea.

[15][16] The Government announced in October 2020 its decision to again deploy a P-3K2 Orion long-range maritime patrol aircraft to support implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea.

[17] In April 2017 it was revealed that the New Zealand Government was considering buying four Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from the United States to replace the Orions.

[18] On 9 July 2018 the government confirmed the purchase, with the Poseidon to be delivered and operational by 2023, requiring relocation of the squadron to RNZAF Base Ohakea.